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There will be a gun turn in event in Milwaukee on Saturday, 17 May,  2014.  While these events are commonly labeled with the propaganda term "buyback" the guns were never owned by the people attempting to buy them. The event will be held at Tabernacle Community Baptist Church, 2500 W. Medford Ave.  The jsonline.com article indicates that it is in a high crime neighborhood. The event is scheduled to run from 10 am to 2 pm. People often turn up early at these events. The incentives for the gun turn in are unknown at this time.  From jsonline.com: Details...

Winston Salem had its second gun turn in event this year (2014).   They spent over $25,000 in the two events, collecting over 475 firearms, 364 on March 15th, and 111 yesterday, the 12th of April.  Both events quickly ran out of money.   On the 15th, the City issued IOUs, yesterday they stopped giving out gift cards when the money ran out.    Long lines were reported when the money ran out, about 5 minutes before the official start time of 9 am.  Ordinarily, this is an ideal opportunity for private buyers to purchase guns from people who do not want...

Conway, South Carolina, will be having a gun turn in event on Saturday, 29 March,  2014.  While these events are commonly labeled with the propaganda term "buyback" the guns were never owned by the people attempting to buy them. The event will be held at Father's Place, 809 Wright Blvd. The event is scheduled to run from 9 am to 2 pm. People often turn up early at ese events. The incentives for the gun turn in will be gift cards.   They will be offering $100 for long guns, $200 for handguns, and $300 for "assault rifles".   These...

On Saturday, 15 March, a gun turn in event was held in Winston Salem, South Carolina.   220 handguns and 144 rifles and shotguns were reported as being turned in, along with unnumbered airguns and BB guns.  I have not found a report that indicates if there were private buyers competing with the event organizers to buy the offered firearms and air guns, though their had been some discussion of this on at least one South Carolina gun forum before the event. Several of the activists used the event to dispose of faulty firerams that were worth less on the...

Conway, South Carolina, will be having a gun turn in even on Saturday, 29 March,  2014.  While these events are commonly labeled with the propaganda term "buyback" the guns were never owned by the people attempting to buy them. The event will be held at Father's Place, 809 Wright Blvd. The event is scheduled to run from 9 am to 2 pm. People often turn up early at ese events. The incentives for the gun turn in will be gift cards.   They will be offering $100 for long guns, $200 for handguns, and $300 for "assault rifles".   These...

Guns Turned In at Phoenix Event Winston-Salem, North Carolina, will be having two gun turn in events in the next two months.   One on Saturday, March 15th,  and another at a second location on Saturday, April  12th.  While these events are commonly labeled with the propaganda term "buyback" the guns were never owned by the people attempting to buy them.  The rewards at this event: $100 for handguns, $75 for shotguns and rifles and $150 for "automatic weapons".  There is no limit to how many guns an individual may turn in.  The organizers want the guns to be...

  A sparse take at the City of Opa-locka Gun Turn In Event, January, 2014. Photo  courtesey of miamitimesonline.com There will be a gun turn in event in early June, 2014 in Opa-locka, Florida. While these events are commonly labeled with the propaganda term "buyback" the guns were never owned by the people attempting to buy them. The location for the event has not been announced.  At the last turn-in event on 25 January, only eleven guns were turned in, as shown in the picture above.  This is a semi-annual event, and the numbers were much higher in 2012, ...

Following what is becoming a national trend, legislation to prevent wasteful destruction of valuable firearms has been introduced in Mississippi by Representative Gary Alan Chism, Republican.  The legislation, House Bill 139, prevents the wasteful destruction of firearms collected at gun turn in events that are conducted with the assistance of government resources.  Instead, the firearms would be returned to lawful commercial channels and the money placed in the general fund of the governmental body that is assisting the turn in event, often referred to by the misnomer "buy back".   The events are not "buy backs" because the people buying...

A few days ago, I wrote about a modest reform to stop the waste of valuable resources occurring at Indiana gun turn in programs, also known as "buy backs".   "Buy backs" is a misnomer, as the guns were never owned by the people who are buying them in the programs.   The reform was a simple one: as tax dollars are expended in these turn in programs, instead of the valuable assets that are collected being destroyed as a primitive symbolic measure, once the guns have been taken off the streets, they should be sold to legal dealers.  This returns...

Senator Jim Tomes, R - Wadesville, has introduced a bill in the Indiana Legislature that prevents further waste in gun turn in events, so called "buy backs".   The guns were never owned by the people purchasing them, so "buy back" is a loaded misnomer.  Kentucky appears to be the first state to pass such reform legislation, in 1998.  The Indiana bill seems loosely based on a similar Arizona reform passed last year.   North Carolina is the latest in a number of states that have passed the money saving measure, passing its bill last August.   On the proposed Indiana...

With gun buybacks on the rise nationwide, many enterprising collectors are making rounds at these events looking to snatch rare firearms from the jaws of the scrapper. Fueled, perhaps, by news from numerous events in which exceedingly rare and valuable guns are being traded in for gift cards, flu shots, and vouchers for groceries, gun buyers are increasingly in attendance, eager to make a deal. Fox News caught up with one of these collectors, 24-year old Schuyler Taylor who has been attending buybacks in the Seattle area. “My goal was to go down there and see if I could find...

Private buyers purchased these guns at a turn in in 2013 Reuters ran article (16 January) about the U.S.  Justice department's Inspector General claiming that the head of the Philadelphia gun "buy back" gave himself unauthorized raises totaling $82,000 over four years.  From kfgo.com: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of a Philadelphia gun buyback program gave himself unauthorized pay raises and failed to hold down other expenses paid from federal grant money, the U.S. Justice Department's inspector general said in a report on Thursday. Compensation given to the Philadelphia Safety Net's executive director, Raymond Jones, was unreasonably high and...

The Atlanta gun turn in event by NAACP and local churches had considerable competition from private buyers, as acknowledged by the wsbtv.com report Gun collectors and enthusiasts, like David Daum, caught the attention of some people before reaching the Turner Field parking lot where the buyback was taking place. "I personally just collect, restore. My personal preference is antique firearms," explained Daum. He said his reason for being out there based on preservation. "Being a collector, especially trying to keep some of the historical firearms from being melted down and destroyed." From the video, it  appears that Mr. Daum...

Private collectors with some antique rifles obtained at a Phoenix turn in event in 2013 Perry Chiaramonte of Fox News deserves some credit for going beyond the usual media template of "Guns Bad".   In an article published on 15 January, he did some homework and found a growing response to the political theater of gun "buy backs.     The article gives considerable space to the trend of private collectors attending the turn in events (they cannot really be "buy backs", because the people buying the guns never owned them before), and buying desirable guns rather than see them destroyed...

When Schuyler Taylor attended a gun buyback program in Seattle last year, he wasn't hoping to turn in an unwanted firearm for a $50 gift card. He was looking to pay cold cash for a rare weapon. Taylor, a 24-year-old gun enthusiast, is one of a growing number of collectors who has been showing up at the events, where towns, police departments, churches and nonprofits offer money or gift cards for old guns. The events have been held all over the country, credited by some for getting weapons off the streets and ridiculed by others for paying money for rusting...

The NAACP in Atlanta is considering organizing a turn in event (buy back) for the city.   Originally, it was to occur on January 16, 2014.   I have been watching, but have not come up with any confirmation for that date.    There appears to be an ongoing discussion of the possibility.   While researching the event, I found these interesting photos of the guns that were purchased by one private buyer at the College Park, GA Turn in (buyback) in February of 2013.  The firearms in the pictures were reportedly  purchased by a by a private buyer for a total of...

Some handguns turned in for $100 at a Phoenix event in May.  Note the nice Ruger and Colt. Charlotte, North Carolina, will be having a gun turn in event on Friday and Saturday, 20 and 21 December,  2013.  While these events are commonly labeled with the propaganda term "buyback" the guns were never owned by the people attempting to buy them.  The rewards are rather unusual at this event: $25 to $50 for handguns and $100 for shotguns and assault rifles.  They will not accept more than five guns per person, and you must leave as soon as you...

A recent gun turn in event at a church in Dallas shows how effective private purchasers can be in neutralizing the "guns are bad"  meme.   From the story: “Now there’s 15 less chances there’s a tragedy, and we’re glad for that,” said the Rev. Bruce Buchanan, an associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Dallas, which has The Stewpot ministry. This is the usual theme of gun turn in programs.  Guns are bad and should be destroyed.   However, as is happening all over the country, in the vast majority of states where private sales are not infringed on...

Some handguns turned in for $100 at a Phoenix event in May.  Note the nice Ruger and Colt. Georgetown County, South Carolina, will be having a gun turn in even on Saturday, 2 November,  2013.  While these events are commonly labelled with the propaganda term "buyback" the guns were never owned by the people attempting to buy them.  It appears that the event is for handguns only. The event will be held at the substation in Pawleys Island at 291 Parkersville Road to collect handguns. The event is scheduled to run from 9 am to 11 pm.  People often...

A fraction of the guns turned in to Phoenix Police in May, 2013 Phoenix police had nearly 2,000 guns that were turned in to them in this May destroyed in secrecy after spending thousands of dollars in police overtime to process them. This is an unusual way to conduct a deodand ceremony.  Usually they are conducted in a very public way, with reporters present, pictures taken of the "evil" deodands as they are righteously crushed, chopped, or burned and melted. Perhaps Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton decided that using police overtime so that hundreds of thousands of dollars of valuable property...